Animal Rights Goes ‘Haute Cuisine’

“If the extremists prevail, they will be taking a big step toward their ultimate goal of a vegan society,” Sonoma Foie Gras farm owner Guillermo Gonzalez wrote in a letter to his fellow residents last week — a prelude to yesterday’s hearing on whether to ban the sale of foie gras (duck liver) in the Northern California town Gonzalez calls home. He’s absolutely right: a ban would only reward the violence and intimidation of animal rights fanatics. Gonzalez and his business partners have been attacked repeatedly.

But that won’t stop the chain of intimidation. Activists target one party and then target those who have ties to the party. Gonzalez receives threats; vandals attack his business. He starts a new business; the animal thugs harass his partners. And his partners’ families.

Animal-rights campaigns against foie gras are nothing new. In 1999 People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) enlisted the help of John Gielgud and Bea Arthur to persuade the Smithsonian Institution to cancel a foie gras tasting event. The Smithsonian eventually caved in, citing not animal-rights arguments but concerns over the safety of its guests. PETA successfully applied similar pressure to the Boston Symphony Orchestra a year later. Other activist groups including United Poultry Concerns and In Defense of Animals have waged similar jihads in recent years.